The number one goal is to increase physical surveillance. By increasing the physical surveillance in schools, this will help prevent youth from bring weapons on school property. Metal detectors and physical searches of student’s lockers and backpacks are not an uncommon practice in schools these days (“School Violence”, 2015). The larger the school the more common these methods are. However, some schools are not using metal detectors and performing searches because they have found that it increases student’s fears and anxiety levels (“School Violence”, 2015). In conclusions weapons deterrence may increase physical safety, but it may increase psychological problems in the future (“School Violence”, 2015).
B. Campus Officers It is becoming
School should be a place of peace and opportunity, but gaps in the system of gun control threatens the safety of faculty and students. School shootings have killed a total of 297 lives, young and old (Slate Magazine). Gun control has been a continuous nationwide debate for many years. It seems that no one wants to take a stance against guns unless they are personally affected. In order to take control of the matter and prevent more incidents from continuing schools need to change. To achieve a safe environment in schools need to educate faculty, safe and students, heighten security, and assess mental health issues.
School violence is becoming a worldwide issue, but is a particular problem within the United States. Violence can occur in many ways such as; bullying, school gangs, physical attacks, and fatalities involved with guns. School shootings have been on the rise over the past several years. To bring awareness to school violence, teachers, staff, and parents need to be further trained in noticing warning signs of depression and anger issues which may lead to bullying and disrespectful learning environments for all parties. In addition to awareness within schools, the debate over gun control has been a topic discussed for many years in hopes to curb school shootings.
Since 2013 there have been 268 school shootings in the United States alone (Everytown for Gun Safety, 2017). School gun violence is becoming increasingly probable. It is imperative that our government and our citizens come together to create a solution and implement a plan to prevent and stop the occurrence of school gun violence. The solution, for some, is to bring more guns into the picture by arming teachers, principals, and other school officials, or place armed police officers at school sites (LaPierre, 2015). For others, the solution is to make even stricter laws regarding gun use or to get rid of these weapons altogether. These certainly are drastic options; I must say that I do believe the true solution is to increase the focus on mental health services and by extension, mental health awareness. There is simply not enough focus on the mental health of our youth and of our students. Mental health services are the most important step to making schools safer, because this solution touches the entire problem of violence at its root level.
After the Sandy Hook, there were countless ways for students to be safe at school. In Preparing for the Unthinkable: School Safety after Sandy Hook news article, Vicki Bauman said, “ Instead of gates, guns, and metal detectors, let’s invest in the things we know will make us safer: counselors, health care, teaching positive behavior, and making sure we have services to reach out to disconnected youth and pull them back on track.” Therefore, violence is not the answer to any question or issue. The community and school system should take a stand and get the necessities that the schools need to have a safe environment for the students and faculty and staff. The school can invest in law enforcement. The law enforcement will be able to conduct a consistent search through a metal detector. The law enforcement will help the students to avoid bringing prohibited weapons to school as well as, there to protect the school.
The intention of this paper is to look at and present some issues and strategies that members of a school community think about when trying to create safer schools. Particularly when addressing an active shooter in a school setting. A major issue to consider when trying to keep all schools safe, is the simple fact that no two schools are the same. Understanding this can lead us to the conclusion that it is impossible to have one global plan or program that can be 100% effective in all schools. “Violence prevention programs work best when they incorporate multiple strategies and address the full range of possible acts of violence in schools. For any set of policies to work, it must be established and
School shootings are terrifying and a big problem in today’s society. Schools have added lockdown drills, bullet proof glass and metal detectors. School should be a safe area for children to learn instead of fearing for their life. Instead of buying metal detectors and hiring more officers, there is a much easier solution in order to decrease and prevent school shootings. We have to be more alert about securing weapons at home and being aware of suspicious behavior at school in order to keep children and faculty safe.
Assault weapons create a perilous learning environment and have a negative impact on school safety. Many students become frightened
Schools are being targeted by those with an intent to kill. A school should be a place that parents and the community feel is safe for kids. It is turning into the opposite, gunman are targeting schools because they are easy to attack and have a large amount of people. The best way to prevent attacks on schools is to scare the attackers away before they ever even show up. To scare away the attackers schools need to improve security and defense measures, in case of an attack. Arming teachers with guns would be a great way to improve security in schools. Arming teachers would help to prevent attacks from ever happening because attackers would be scared away, attackers would be more easily taken down, and the schools would feel safer.
With millions of dollars being spent on measures to fight weapons and drugs in schools, little reason for optimism exists due to the track record of these methods and programs. Drugs and problems still continue to be a serious problem for our youth. For example, despite spending more than 20 million dollars on the installation of metal detectors at public schools in New York City, weapons continue to be a serious problem. In order for us to have safe schools, we need to bridge the gap between
Donner, Jennifer Lanterman, and Wesley Jennings discuss using security guards and non-lethal alternatives to guns in schools. According to their research school resource officers (SROs) and private security guards are welcomed and help create a safer education environment. They show that 69% of students believe that SROs do a good job of keeping their school safe (J. Maskaly et al, 161). They state, “SROs increase perception of safety within the school (J. Maskaly et al, 161).” Allowing SROs and private security guards armed with “use-of-force capabilities,” such as pepper spray and tasers, can help decrease hostile situations. In fact, referring to Aimee Huff’s research, the FBI reported “between 2000 and 2013 it was unarmed civilians that stopped more active shooter events than armed civilians, 11 of 27 incidents involved unarmed principals, teachers, other school staff and students who confronted shooters to end the threat (A. Huff, 2018).” This shows that guns are not exactly necessary to stop school shootings, it takes someone to stand up and be proactive in a shooting event. Guns can be more efficient in accomplishing the task, but the risks are still prevalent and outweigh the benefits of allowing them in schools much less arming teachers with
imagine being at school and all of a sudden you here pop,pop,pop.Followed by the gun shots you see dust coming from the classroom door. Two ways you can reduce school massacres are by inserting metal detectors and all exits and entrances, and more security guards around campus. Metal detectors could reduce the risks of school massacres. A couple of reasons are the metal detectors are gonna detect a weapon. After finding the gun it'll alert anyone around that area. That will than let the people know that a person has a weapon of somewhat. know the person with the weapon will know that he has been caught and that the police are on their way. More security around campus could reduce school massacres. The reason's it'll reduce shooting's on campuses
Larry Wilder, Ed. D had spent 19 years at Fresno County Office of Education, and currently directs the administrative services program in the Fresno Pacific University School of Education said, “The National School Board Association estimates that approximately 135,000 guns are brought to America’s 85,000 public schools each day.” This clearly states that there is a serious problem with students bringing guns to school. If school uniforms are implemented, these numbers are certain to go down. For example, the Long Beach Unified School District to require uniforms and in the first year of having them, there was a 50% decline in fights and cases of students with weapons. Other schools have dress codes that require the beltline to be exposed at all times for fear of a weapon in the waistband. Educators say that because of that policy, there was a decrease in violence, fights in schools and improved student achievement. School is meant to a healthy learning environment and by decreasing violence, with the use of uniforms and dress codes, schools are starting to become better learning environments.
Every day students across the country wake up and go to school seeking an education. They learn basic skills and knowledge from classes such as English, math, biology, physics, photography and so many other classes that prepare students for adulthood. However, what is most alarming is that students have to cope with violence that is now occurring in schools. In the past, school violence involved bullying and mistreatment, but in recent decades weapons are now a part of the violence students encounter. Violence is a way for youth to gain authority over their peers. Additionally, violence in schools has promoted a national debate on gun control, bullying and plagued the overall learning experience in school environments. Not only do people need
With the many recent tragic school shootings, people are asking questions regarding if their children are under enough protection while they are at school. One of the biggest debate questions is: should schools have armed guards at the front entrance? This question has been answered by many people by giving their specific opinion. The question of armed guards in front of school has also been addressed on talk shows and to political leaders for their opinion. The answers that are given are either for having armed guards, or against armed guards standing in front of schools. Armed guard should not be posted at schools because it increases uncertainty and risk of student safety.
School violence, in recent history, seems to have taken the United States by storm. Be it a shooting, such as the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, the inappropriate relationships between teacher and student, such as Stephanie Figueroa whom initiated one such relationship with her 11-year-old karate student, or the multiple fights we see on social media that take place in schools. With each passing week, we see a new story that falls in one of these categories. Today, we look at the types of, causes of and how to prevent violence in what should be a safe place and second home for our youth.